Fallin says NAEP scores indicate Sooner State still below national average

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The Daily Ardmoreite

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Posted Nov. 8, 2013 at 5:00 PM

Posted Nov. 8, 2013 at 5:00 PM

OKLAHOMA CITY

Governor Mary Fallin called scores good news/bad news.

“This year’s NAEP scores represent mixed results for Oklahoma schools. As a state, we are improving. Fourth grade math scores, for instance, are the highest they have been in ten years. That’s great news. We have the hard work of Oklahoma teachers, administrators, parents and students to thank for that forward progress. It’s also an indication that some of our reform efforts are beginning to deliver results.

“Oklahoma continues, however, to fall below the national and the regional average in every category. That is a shortcoming that we must work to correct. Nothing is more important to the individual success of our children, or the overall economic prosperity of our state, than delivering high quality schools that prepare Oklahomans for the workforce and for higher education.

“Moving forward, we must work together to improve our schools. That improvement will require increased rigor in the classroom and a greater focus on literacy, which the implementation of the Reading Sufficiency Act will provide. Greater success will demand the kind of accountability and benchmarks of progress represented by the A-F grading system. And it will rely on a sense of cooperation and shared responsibility between lawmakers, educators, parents and students.

“Oklahoma has great teachers. It is a supportive community that cares about public education and, most of all, our children. I am confident that we will continue our upward trajectory and deliver the education results our students deserve.”